Winthrop High School Maine students perform ‘Austenatioius’

By Bill Van Tassel

WINTHROP — The Winthrop High School players recently performed “Austentatious,” a loose spinoff of the work of Jane Austen, and a play-within-a-play with a strong comic element.

The comedy builds off the quirky characters that are auditioning for parts in a play crafted by a very quirky director, Dominic (played by Hunter Glidden). If he were a cook, he’d do the kind of thing like suggest a splash of orange peel essence in one’s chocolate milkshake — just to be different.
The players auditioning are: Emily, a writer (Kerrigan Anuszewski), Jessica, a regular (Marta Norton), Lauren, a Diva (Shelby Cobb), Blake, a newcomer (Joshua Deanna Whaley), David, a newcomer (Maguire Anuszewski)
Assistant and Stage Manager, Sam, (Clara Szakas) continually rescues Dominic from his own ideas.
The seven players were well-rehearsed, some having a talent for vocal expression, some for appropriate stage business and body language, and a few with nice singing voices. Some of this was likely from their own, off-stage personalities and some from the direction of Drama Club director, David Price.
One really must see the show to get the overall picture of what’s going on, but the following titles of some of the songs may give you an idea of the comedic confusion that happens: “Panic,” “I Can See It Now,” “I Manage,” “The Next Best Thing,” “On The Same Page,” “I Go To Pot.”
It’s always a treat to see young people stepping out to take on a part in a production where they must memorize many lines, put themselves out there in front of their peers and others. Some great lessons can be learned in expressing oneself clearly. It’s also fun to see the players own personalities sneak out through their character’s persona. I suppose that’s what they call type-casting.
The seven primary characters in the Winthrop show had a lot of backup to help them with a very efficient crew in lighting, sound, stage/props, wardrobe and makeup. The music was provided by pianist Gabby Vallee and percussionists Eric Yim and Eric Landau.